Conjugated polymers are of great interest for the development of optical and electronic applications because of their extended π-electron delocalization along the backbone. A problem however frequently occurring during the synthesis of conjugated polymers is their insolubility due to their rigid backbone. Quite often the solubility problem is circumvented by the use of a soluble and easily processable non-conjugated precursor polymer. Nowadays, such precursor polymers can be synthesized via several different routes (e.g. sulfonium or Wessling-Zimmerman precursor route, xanthate precursor route and sulfinyl precursor route) having in common that they make use of polymerization behavior of p-quinodimethane systems. These routes differ however in the choice of the leaving group and polarizer group in the pre-monomer structure and in the polymerization conditions (base and solvents, reaction temperatures and reaction time) used. Initially, these methods were developed for the synthesis of poly (1,4-phenylene vinylene) (hereinafter referred as PPV) derivatives and were later adapted for the synthesis of other poly (heteroarylene vinylene) derivatives, but with mixed success. Especially the synthesis of electron rich conjugated polymers such as poly (2,5-thienylene vinylene) (hereinafter referred as PTV) via these precursor routes is problematic. In particular, the high reactivity of intermediates or even the monomer itself precludes the development of a reproducible, versatile, low polydispersity and high yield polymerization process towards PTV derivatives, due to the electron rich nature of the thiophene ring.
Accordingly there is still a strong need in the art for improving the conversion (also called elimination reaction) of a poly(arylene vinylene) precursor polymer into a conjugated poly (arylene-vinylene) polymer such as PPV or PTV. There is also a need in the art for providing alternative derivatives of conjugated poly (arylene-vinylene), e.g. through the functionalization of such precursor polymers, which may exhibit unexpectedly unique physical, chemical and/or electrical properties. There is also a need in the art for providing alternative layer components for electronic or optical devices such as, but not limited to, solar cells, light-emitting diodes, chemical sensors, biological sensors and integrated circuits.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,817,430 describes a process for the preparation of polymers comprising: polymerizing at least one monomer of the formula X—CH2—Ar—CH2—X′ in the presence of a base and at least one chain end controlling additive of the formula R—H to form a soluble conjugated poly(arylene vinylene) of the formula R—CH2—[Ar—CH═CH—]n—Ar—CH2—R where X and X′ are electron withdrawing groups, R—H is a compound containing at least one acidic proton, R is a nucleophile, Ar is an aryl or aromatic group with from 5 to 30 carbon atoms, and n represents the number of repeating segments.